Background picture does not appear in the render?
the easy way is to enable the Addon that does exactly that :


go to File➝ User_Preferences
click on the Addon tab search for Import Image,  check it and click Save





go to File ➝Import ➝ Import_Image_as_Plane
select your image  and click Import
position your camera and render ( you may need to tweak light )




to setup easily the render after adding the image as plane :


switch to Cycles Render Engine





in 3d_view hit Num 7 (this the top view)
hit Ctrl+Alt+0 to set the camera in this view (you can move the camera up and down to fit the image )
enable Ambient Occlusion  in the world tab





press F12 to render